chalmers



(No Model.) I 2 Shets-Sfieet 1. G. GHALMERS.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

\ No. 286,682. Patented Oct. 16, 1883.

(No Model.) Q 2 SheetsSheet 2v G. OHALMERS.

RAILWAY SWITCH. No.- 286,682 Patented Oct. 16, 1883.

Unirnn STATES Price,

PAT NT RAILWAY-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 286,682, dated October16, 1883.

' Application filed January 18,18F2. (X model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE OHALMERS, of I San Juan, county of SanBenito, State of California, have invented a Railway-Switch; and Ihereby declare the following to be a full,

clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to a railway'switch; and it consists in thearrangement of levers operated by suitable devices upon thelocomo- I0tive or car from which, through intermediate mechanism, motion istransmitted to the switch or throw rails to connect them with the sideor main track, this said arrangement being for the purpose of operatingall the levers upon one I 5 side to keep a straight or main track andall the levers upon the other side to connect the throw-rails with thesidings.

The object of this invention is to provide a switch in the operation ofwhich the greatest 2O simplicity exists, thereby lessening the danger ofaccident, both on account of construction and the difficulty ofacquiring the knowledge of its operation. All that is required is toremember upon which side all levers work to cne purpose, and upon whichto another, as

will be fully seen inthe course of the following description and byreference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is aperspective view, showing my 0 improved switch. Fig 2 is an enlargedView of one section of same. Figs. 3 and 4 show apparatus for operatingthe switch from a locomotive.

A represents the road-bed. Upon one end 3 of the track-section hereinshown are the rails B of the main track andalso the rails Cof the sidetrack, represented as coming in from the right-hand side. At one ,end ofa central section, 13, of the main track are the throw or 0 switch railsD, which are adapted, as I shall presently explaiu to have one endthrown in relation with either rails B or O. The other ends of theswitch-rails are pivoted at (Z, and are always in connection with therails B of the main track. At the other end of this central section ofthe main track 13 are pivoted the throw or switch rails D of a secondswitch, said switch being always in connection with the rails B B of themain track. The other ends of the throw-rails D are adapted to be throwninto connection with the rails of the inain track B, a11d also with aside track, 0, Y.

' which I have here represented as leading away tothe left of the mainor straight track.

It will be seen from this general description that a car coming on themain track may, by proper arrangement of the switch, proceed the entirelength on said track, or may proceed to the left upon the siding O, or,coming in upon the siding C, may proceed upon the main track below thecross-ties or the bed, and is j ournaled so that it may rock, and whensuch motion is imparted to it the arm f, which projects upward throughthe bed, will also rock. This motion of the arm turns the lever E uponits 7 pivot, and will thus throw the switch-rails to connect with themain rails B or siding-rails O as the direction of the movement of thelever is changed. p

The shaft F is made to rock as follows: Upon one of its ends is across-lever, G. Upon the left'of one of the siding-rails G is pivoted alever, H. This is constructed with a large rounded head adapted to beelevated above the rails, and a stem, by which it is pivoted at 8 5 h,Fig. 2, in appropriatehousing. (Not shown.) This lever H, when presseddown, bears upon the end of the cross-lever G and presses it down,thereby rocking the shaft F. Upon the right of one of the main rails Bof the track is a similar lever, H, which is adapted to rest upon theother end of the cross-lever G, and thus it will be evident that theoscillations of the lever G alternately raiseand lower the levers H H,and in Fig. 1, for illus- 5 tration, I have shown lever H raised aud'inposition, when depressed by an approaching Q- engine on a side track, tothrow the switchrails D D in connection with the side track,

so that the train can. pass from the side-track IOO rails G O to thecentral section of main track. (Shown at B.) V

The forward end of shaft F extends to the track, and is provided with across-lever, G,

. similar to G, the ends of which are alternately j", which is connectedwith a lever, E. lever, instead of having .its fulcrum between depressedand raised by the operation of two levers similar to levers H and H, andmarked herc H and '11". These levers are to operate the throw-rails Dwhen the car is moving in the direction of the arrows. It will be seenin this case that the lever H is up in a position on the side of thecentral section, B, of .the main track to be depressed and to operatethe working-shaft F and lever E to connect the throw-rails D with thesiding-rails O, and the lever H upon the opposite side of thetracksection B, when depressed, connects the switch-rails D with therails B of the main track.

The operation of the throw-rails D is somewhat similar to thedescription j ust given, with,

however, a slight change in order to make the levers upon the leftconnect the switch with the siding and the levers upon the right connect withthe main track.

F is the rocking shaft, and G G the crosslevers upon its ends. It has anupright arm, This the power and the weight, has the power between thefulcrum and the weight. It is therefore pivoted, as shown at e, at oneend, and is connected with a cross piece, 0, at the other, thiscross-piecejoining the ends of the throw-rails D and affecting them asdescribed inv the case of throw-rails D. The object of this constructionis that the levers J J J 2 J, similar to those H H H H, may throw therails D in the manner describedthat is, that levers J and J upon theleft, shall always connect the switchrails with the siding-rails, andlevers J and J, upon the right, connect them with the main rails B ofthe track.

Let L represent a locomotive. Under it, between the wheels, is journaleda shaft, M, the ends of which project 011 the sides, and are turned atright angles with the shaft and with each other, and carry rollers upontheir outwardly-turned ends. The one upon the left I mark N, the otherN. The center of the shaft is provided with a crank, O, with which ared, I connects, the rear end of which connects with an arm, q, upon alever, Q. This lever Q is bent on the side and projects upward to withinthe reach of the engineer. IV hen the lever is pushed forward, theroller N upon the left is made to turn downward, while the roller N uponthe right is turned up to one side. Suppose, now, that the locomotive beupon the siding G, and both switch-rails D and D are in connection withthe main or straight track,

as seen in Fig. 2. The object is to go upon the main track and again toleave it for the siding 0 upon the other side. The lever Q is pushedforward and the roller N upon the left lowered. The locomotiveprogresses, and the roller, meeting the lever H upon the left of thesiding, depresses it and throws the rails D into connection with thesiding O, and at the same moment the lever H is lowered out of the wayof the roller. It now passes over lever H upon the main-track section B,and roller N meets with the lever J upon the left of the trackanddepresses it, and the switch-rails D are thereby thrown over intoconnection with the sidingC. Returning under similar circumstances, thelevers J and H upon the left are brought into operation, excepting thatroller N is used, and not N. In like manner the levers H, H", J", and Jupon the right always keep a straight or main track,'the roller N uponthe right of the locomotive being used when going in one direction,(opposite to that indicated by the arrows,) and the roller N upon theleft being used when going in the opposite direction, (with the arrows.)The object of this is to simplify the device.

The levers H J on the central section of the main line are so connectedand operated as to occupy depressed or raised positions reversely to thepositions of the levers H J and H J. If all the switches were arrangedlikewise, all that the operator would have to bear in mind would be thatby dropping his roller upon one side he could leave the main track for asiding orleave asiding for the main, and by dropping the other he couldalways remain upon the straight or main track.

It may happen that it will be necessary to run'the coaches off uponasiding while the 10- comotive remains upon the main track. In Fig. 5 Ishow the provision for this. To braces B, under the side of the car, arepivoted arms I S, one at the front and the other at the rear. Thesecarry in their ends rollers s, and, are so pivoted that their tops areheavy, and, falling of their own weight, raise the rollers away from thetrack. Suitable cords. raise their heavy tops, and thus throw theirrollers down for contact with the levers. Two similar ones are upon theother side of the car. The object in having two upon'a side is that thecar may bebacked or progressed with safety, it being so long that ifthere were butone it might not operate the switches in time to preventthe end of the car from leaving the track.

In order to render theoperation of the acting levers Hand J and theother similar levers as easy as possible, I have the followingconstruction: I here show it in connection with the throw-rails D,Fig.2. Between these rails is a cross-plate, 10. In the bed of the road,under the plate and in a suitable casing, is pivoted a lever, 00, theshort end of which carries a roller, 1 and the long end a weight,

justment of this weight the throw-rails may be raised just enough toallow them to be moved IIO nation with the means for operating thesede-.

vices, consisting of the rollers N N upon each side of the locomotive,said rollers being adapted to be depressed in turn to act upon thelevers H H H H, and likewise to be raised out of the way by means of therocking shaft M, crank 0, rod P, and lever Q, substantially as hereindescribed.

2. The arrangement of the series of levers H H H H J J J J, the sidetracks 0 0, main track B, and switch or throw rails D D, rocking shaftsF F with their cross-levers G G G G and arms f f levers E E, and crossapieces 0 0, in combination with the rollers N N or equivalent devicesupon the car, whereby the operation of all thelevers H H J J upon oneside will keep the car upon the main track, and the operation of all thelevers H H J J upon the otherside will switch the car upon the sidings,substantially as herein described. I

3. The series of levers H H H H J J J J, in combination with the throwor switch rails D D and the intermediate mechanism, whereby motion istransmitted from the said levers to said rails, consisting of therocking shafts F F, with their cross-lever G G G G and armsff, levers EE, and cross-pieces c c, substantially as herein described.

In witness whereof I hereunto set .my hand. 40

GEORGE GHALMERS. Vitnesses:

(J. D. COLE, J. H. BLooD.

